nazard wrote: Skooze my igneranse, but shudunt that be "Gwyn in Gobannio habitat"?
Hand up to that one - yes it should.
Not for a town name. Use the locative instead. Even as late as the Vulgate you find Romae and Hierosolymae for in Rome and in Jerusalem. In this case Gobannii.
nazard wrote:I would never have guessed Abergavenny had a Roman name. Have you any idea how it got its English name, which does not strongly resemble "Y Fenni"?
Wikipedia wrote:The name derives from a Brythonic word Gobannia meaning "river of the blacksmiths", and relates to the town's pre-Roman importance in iron smelting. The name is related to the modern Welsh word gof (blacksmith), and so is also associated with the Welsh smith Gofannon from folklore. The river later became, in Welsh, Gafenni, and the town's name became Abergavenny, meaning "mouth of (Welsh: Aber) the Gavenny (Gafenni)". In Welsh, the shortened form Y Fenni may have come into use for a very short period after about the 15th century, although pronounced similarly in English or Welsh the English spelling Abergavenny is in general use.
Proto-Celtic *goban- = 'blacksmith'. I wonder if there's a connection to the Indo-European *kowə- 'to forge, beat, hew'? The Slavonic name Kovač (meaning Smith!) comes from the same root.
mcb wrote:Not for a town name. Use the locative instead. Even as late as the Vulgate you find Romae and Hierosolymae for in Rome and in Jerusalem. In this case Gobannii.
I knew I should have stuck to Armenian
Do we not simply have a choir member here who is making an error in association?
As pot is to potter, so lance (not lancer) is to lancer?